Coach Jordan Wolfrum wants her athletes to focus on grit and pride for each other.
Swim and dive is generally though of as a highly individual and insular sport. Aside from relay races, swimmers rely on themselves and themselves alone to race as fast as possible and secure the best finish they can.
Wolfrum acknowledged that both before and after college, it often is a solo battle.
“There’s really nobody to share the highs or the lows with at that level,” Wolfrum said. “The pressure is on you. The wins are on you.”
However, Wolfrum and UCLA swim and dive are flipping the script and focusing on the team aspect of the sport.
According to Wolfrum, she coaches her athletes to focus on the team result rather than each individual performance.
Wolfrum said she makes sure her athletes know that those who aren’t always traveling with the team are still important to the team’s overall success. She also reminds those who do travel of their privilege.
And as important as it is to celebrate team success, Wolfrum added that she feels it’s just as important to share moments of failure.
“When you fail, it’s not a personal, individual failure,” Wolfrum said. “It’s just part of the process where somebody else is there to pick up the slack.”
Wolfrum added that sharing failures is crucial for alleviating the individual pressure of a race by utilizing the support system created at UCLA. She said being able to lean on your teammates can make each day easier to tackle.
“It’s easier to work really hard for your sisters that you’re sharing the pool with on those days that you don’t want to do it than it is to just do it for yourself,” Wolfrum said.
Sophomore swimmer Mia Chang added that those connections strongly influence the way the Bruins practice and how they perform at competitions.
“I feel like we really do better when we think about each other and when we swim for each other,” Chang said. “We’re all such good friends, not just teammates, and I think that makes such a huge difference.”
Chang’s connection to her teammates has been echoed by others on the squad, including junior swimmer Bailey Herbert.
Herbert said this sisterhood has been largely created outside of the pool.
“People just put in the effort, even outside of practices, to hang out with each other and to be there for each other,” Herbert said. “We’re definitely not just a team when we’re at the pool. We’re a team, no matter where we are.”
That off-the-pool-deck chemistry shows during competitions, as the Bruins are often heard loudly cheering each other on. It has shone in their relays – of which they have won 11 of 16 in dual meets this season.
Senior swimmer Sophia Kosturos said if it weren’t for her teammates, and specifically her fellow seniors, she may not have continued collegiate swimming.
“It was really a special opportunity to be able to experience swimming as more of a team sport than it was in my whole childhood growing up because it was more individual,” Kosturos said.
Wolfrum said the Bruins’ effort to ensure solid team chemistry has paid off, and she loves when it is evident in their performances.
“That’s one of the most powerful things,” Wolfrum said. “Seeing the momentum and the hard work and the effort that they put in when they’re doing it for each other; that’s the magic.”
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